"31% of the UK economy can be attributed to some form of digital
skills, capital or intermediate goods flowing through supply
chains," said Knickrehm. "The UK is an open economy that is
reasonably well-positioned to secure the skills it needs for
digital growth. There is not so much evidence of a drain of
talent as a continuous struggle to attract the right digital
skills. Most countries face that challenge."

"Indeed, our analysis shows that, if the UK had a choice as to
where to place its next pounds and efforts to boost digitally
driven growth in the next five years, it would make a greater
return by focusing on the application of technology and improving
factors such as regulation and access to finance.

"That does not mean that the UK can be complacent about skills,
but in the next few years, it will get a greater return from
investing in these other priorities. To some extent that reflects
the relatively strong position the UK has already achieved in
digital skills."

Knickrehm spoke to Business Insider to coincide with Accenture
Strategy's report, entitled "Digital
Disruption: the Growth Multiplier," which measures the scale
of the digital economy in 11 major countries. It falls in line
with the WEF theme for this year, "Mastering the Fourth
Industrial Revolution."

Mark
Knickrehm, group chief executive, Accenture Strategy spoke to
Business Insider for the WEF annual meeting in
Davos.Accenture

The report found that if countries and companies better optimised
their approaches in using technology, refocusing company strategy
to employ people with digital skills, it could generate $2.3
trillion (£1.6 trillion) of additional global economic output by
2020.

The report highlights how embedded the role of digital activity
plays in economic growth and more than one-fifth of the world’s
gross domestic product (GDP) attributed to some form of digital
skills, capital and goods and services.

The report identified that the US is the "world’s most digital
economy, with existing digital investments accounting for 33% of
its output."

Knickrehm told us what practical things countries can do to
embrace greater digital activity to boost GDP.

"In the last ten years, ‘born-digital’ start-ups and online
giants have disrupted traditional sectors. But in the next
decade, there’s the prospect that traditional industries can
exploit digital to transform their business models," said
Knickrehm.

"Smart sensors networked across plant, machinery or vehicles will
allow manufacturers to offer value added services, based on the
data that these assets in the field generate.

"The pursuit of platform business models will also generate
greater growth. But bringing together partners and customers via
a digital platform, the network effect reduces the costs of
creating new services and reaching new customers. This can apply
to the B2B sector as well as to the consumer applications we are
familiar with. It is not just Airbnb and Uber, but the
agricultural, aerospace and health sectors were early gains are
being made.

"Business strategy needs to be a digital business strategy in the
broadest sense, spearheading the entire transformation of their
operating models, their business models and their market
positioning."